


Fate

by mockingmellark



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-13 02:42:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2134098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mockingmellark/pseuds/mockingmellark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the elevator breaks down, Eden is forced to take the stairs. Maybe it was just bad luck or fate, she manages to be at the wrong place at the wrong time but she runs into a man with a metal arm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It kinda feels personal

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC and any other thing you don't recognize.**

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One "Roses for the Mrs.?" Eden smiled. She loved these little gestures that some men did for their wives. She was florist so she saw this quite often, whether it be late birthday presents, anniversaries, valentines day, or just because it was Wednesday, picking up a bouquet of roses on the way home from work made her warm inside. She owned a flower shop called The Garden of Eden. After paying, she handed the man a bouquet of red roses. He thanked her quickly and jetted out the door. He must have forgotten her birthday She thought to herself, chuckling. Eden stifled a yawn, eyes glancing over to the clock.

Technically she still had a half hour before closing but she didn't care. She flipped the open sign over to side that read closed, locked the cash register, set the alarm and in two long strides she was throwing on her rain coat and out the door. Waiting for the crosswalk to turn green, she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket. She had a missed call from her mom. She sighed; no doubt she was calling about the rent money she had lent her last month.

It pained Eden to think that her little piece of Heaven wasn't doing too well. The commerce made barely enough to cover the rent of the place and repairs were getting too expensive. She had to change her store hours and days so that she could work a part time job to keep her refrigerator stocked, gas in her car and afford the rent of her own apartment. The crosswalk light turned green, Eden shuffled along.

She made it to her car. It was an old silver Chevy Impala and had several scratches and dings. Wrenching the driver side door open, Eden pinched the bridge of her nose; her cellphone glowed and vibrated in her hand. mom. Eden tossed the phone in the passenger promised she would call her as soon as she got home. It had been a long day and the last thing she needed was a lecture. She could go for a nice warm bubble bath and foot rub.

The impala roared to life after several attempts.

The Park-view apartment complex was built around the 1940s, the entire building was in desperate need of an update. she wasn't allow to paint the wall to her liking, the same peeling eggshell colored paint remain. She took to hanging up various artwork from local thrift stores. The floorboard always squeaked when she walk across and appliances haven't been updated since the apartment complex was built nearly 70 years ago.

Eden groaned as soon as she saw the out of order sign that been posted on elevator. She would have to take the stairs. again. She hated taking the stairs. She lived on the fifth floor. It was just too many stairs to climb. She took them two at a time. _The faster I get upstairs the faster I get to my apartment._ she chanted inside her head. Her breaths became short and shallow. She had to stop for a moment just to catch her breath. _damn asthma!._ Asthma was something she struggled with all her life,she had never ending drawer full of inhalers, she kept two in her purse, one in the drawer by the cash register at the shop just in case she had a flare up . Eden was always prepared.She rested her arm against guard rail for support when she heard the heavy pattern of the footsteps behind her.

 "sorry" she quipped, flattening herself against the rail. Two men in suit brushed passed her as if she didn't even exist. They turned quickly at the entrance of the third floor. Eden, who still made attempts to catch her breath found herself intrigued by the two men. What were they doing in a dump like this? The suits looked too expensive.

"Rogers,. open up buddy, we just want to talk" a moment of silence and the man named Rogers doesn't answer the door.

"It's nothing personal but..." Eden let out a raspy cry. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, her heart hammered in her chest. That was a gunshot. She prayed that whoever this Rogers was that he wasn't in apartment because he would be in for a rude awakening. _That kind of felt personal..._ she thought She willed herself to move, forcing one feet in front of the other. She would not get caught up in this. She would be as witness. Police would question her. She couldn't help them in any way because she had barely gotten a look at the killer's face. She cringed at the bad publiciy the shop would get. _MOVE IT EDEN!_ she internally shouted at herself.

She found it hard to walk, her legs felt like jelly and she was falling before she knew it.

"Вы не должны быть здесь" (you shouldn't be here)

Eden looked up from the corner she managed to crawl to. The first thing she noticed was the metal arm however,it didn't bother her as much as the blade in his hands. Even through his black goggles she could feel his cold calculating stare on her. It sent a shiver down her back. He followed her gaze to knife, he brought the knife to his face as if he was inspecting it. He ran a bare finger as long the blade as it drew blood.

"делает это напугать вас?" (does this scare you?) His voice came out ragged and raspy.

In two long strides, he was standing- no hovering over her. He pushed the black goggles up to reveal two cold blue eyes.

"Это должно" (it should) Eden nodded warily as if she understood every word he was saying. He was going to kill her but first he wanted to toy with her. He wanted to see the fear in her eyes. He brought the knife to her forehead, Eden whimpered as he dragged it along the side of her face.

The knife tore through her flesh, instinctively her hands went to her throat. She let out a scream but it came out gargled from the blood. He was standing now, carelessly wiping her blood from knife, his blue eyes never leaving her green ones. "I will see you soon" he spoke in English this time before leaving her to die.

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**I used Google translate for the Russian dialogue.**


	2. The umbrella vs the winter soldier

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**one month later**

 

A cool daft blew from the open window as Eden Lancaster laid awake. It was a comfortable night, it wasn't too cold but Eden still couldn't sleep. She had too much on her mind to be able to sleep. It was embarrassing for her to admit that she had nightmares about her attacker. Eden felt the hot tears beginning to form at the thought of the attack, she always thought about the attack, she couldn't stop thinking about it and it was making her a borderline insomniac. Her fear ate at her every day, her anxiety gnawed at her the way a rat gnaws at cheese . The dreams always started differently but always ended in the same manner. him staring intently at her as he dragged the knife across her neck. Absently Eden's timid fingers grazed the ugly jagged scar that she was forever more stuck with; it was a constant reminder.

 

She curled under her blanket, closing her eyes tightly.

Eden rubbed the sleep crumbs from her eyes, groggily making her way to her tiny bathroom. She fumbled with the cold faucet knobs before tuning the water on as hot as she could stand it. She wasted no time in the shower, she was already running late as it was. She glanced at herself once over in the mirror she had purposely placed by her front door. "Oh, I almost forgot" She thought to herself as she grabbed a black infinity scarf, looping it around her neck so that the large scar was no longer visible. Eden was thankful the weather has turn colder.

It was Saturday, and Saturdays meant lunch with her parents and grocery shopping. It was the only day of the week that she didn't have to be at the shop or work at her part time job. Eden arrives at the Lancaster household within twenty minutes and she checked herself once over in the rear view mirror; making sure that her dark shoulder length hair was neatly pushed behind her ears and the ghastly scar wasn't visible beneath the scarf. Appearance was something her mother lived for, if one hair was out of place than her mother would spend an hour lecturing her about looking more like a lady. It was funny to Eden, because she was as unladylike like as they came.

 

"I wish you would out of that apartment" shoveling more steamed carrots into her mouth, Eden let out a grunt of acknowledgement.

"I love my apartment" It was true. She did love her apartment, sure it was in need of update, the, elevator occasionally stopped working and the roof had water stains from the tenants upstairs who accidentally let the bathtub overflow. She was content with that, it was a loft apartment with cheap rent.

"Cheap isn't always safe" As if she were reading her daughter's thoughts, Mary Lancaster chimed in.

Eden pushed the steamed carrots around on her plate. "Can we not have lunch without you bringing that up" Eden kept her voice low but laced with bitterness. She hated having this conversation with her mother, it her feel self conscious and guilty as if the fact that she had attacked was entirely her fault. Eden shoved the rest of her steamed carrots into her mouth and rose from the dining table.

"I will see you next Saturday, tell dad I love him"

 

Fuming she stomped to her car, mumbling incoherent swear words. Sometimes she really hated her mother. They never had the best relationship, Eden tried her best to impress her mother but her best was never good enough. Eva was the favorite. Eva was Eden's younger sister, she had long blonde hair that was always perfectly styled, she wore designer suits, and married a douche bag that was heir to six billion dollar fortune. Eva was always good enough. Eden has two nieces that she had only ever met once since they had been born six years ago. Eva made sure that her sister didn't interfere with her pristine lifestyle. Eden just pretended that she didn't have a sister/

 

Feeling the anger rising, Eden stopped thinking about her sister and remembered that she needed to go grocery shopping. The pantry nearly empty except for a can of beef broth and stale Ritz Crackers.

Celery. _check_

bread. _check_

 eggs. _check_

milk. _check_

flour. _check._

Tossing a sack of flour into the metal shopping cart. Eden mentally crossed off her shopping list she had memorized. Roughly an hour later she had enough food to last for about two weeks if she rationed it out properly, like most people when she got bored she snacked and it was particularly the reason why her jeans felt tighter than usual. Eden patted her stomach at the thought of getting her hands on Little Debbie snack cakes, as she passed the sweets aisle and she almost found herself picking up a box and tossing it into her basket before she reminded herself that it was out of budget and the cosmic brownies would be gone before she made it home.

 

 _You can splurge a bit. Think about the calories. When have I ever thought about calories. You've worked hard all week. You deserve it_. Eden grinned stupidly to herself, It was like the battle between good and evil going on in her dead. She had to remind herself that it was afteral, just cosmic brownies not some life altering decision with serious consequences. Eden quickly paid the cashier for her purchases .

She couldn't wait to to tear into the brownies. She had only just made into her before she started ripping away at the thin cardboard. Discarding the clear packaging, she sunk her teeth into the rich chocolate. " _Taste like Heaven"_ She thought, letting out a loud moan before shoving the rest of the chocolate brownie into her mouth. sticky fingers reached around in her purse for the car keys. the other hand was already digging for another brownie. The grocery store was five minute drive away by the time she had round the corner to her apartment complex the entire box was gone.

Eden staggered in with both arms full of groceries, she let out a string of curse words when she saw the out of order sign taped to the elevator doors.

"Lucky me" she muttered, giving the elevator a kick. The last time she had taken the stairs, things hadn't ended nicely. She ended up the hospital for five days and men in uniforms, who certainly weren't the MPDC, visited her daily asking very weird questions. Ward was what he insisted she call him. He was man of very few words. Slowly, she climb up the stairs. Her anxiety heightened as she reached the third floor and immediately her eyes flicked to the corner. The same corner, she crawled to, the same corner he had nonchalantly twirled his knife in hand before he - Eden stopped thinking. She was always so busy thinking about herself that she never thought about what became of this "Rogers" and then her mind drifted to Sharon, the nurse who lived next door to Rogers . She had been so selfish lately, she hadn't given a hoot about Sharon these passed few weeks. Since neither owned a washing machine or a dryer, they would often wind up together in the Laundry room in the basement. Eden had unintentionally overheard a conversation of Sharon's , discussing Rogers and the current state of her employment in hushed tones. Eden knew she had recently lost her job two weeks ago.

She felt the anxiety leave her body as she crossed the threshold of the fifth floor. She was safe, She was home , no asthma flare ups, no one had followed her or tried to kill her as she walked up the stairs. She did a small victory dance but then she felt silly and instantly regretted it.

"Louie?" She called upon entering her apartment. A fat tabby cat lifted it's head from the nearby couch, he meowed and made a beeline to the kitchen as if to say _"you haven't fed me today_ ". Eden poured a bit of cat food into Louie's small dish before scratching the cat behind the ears. After putting away the groceries, Eden nestled into the couch and before she knew it she had closed her eyes.

_**crash!** _

 

Eden bolted up from her slumber. It was dark outside, the only light was streaming from the moon. She stared around bewildered and a tad bit confused.

 

**_crash!_ **

 

She heard it again, it was enough to make her jump from the couch. There was someone in her apartment. If she wasn't so scared , She could almost laugh at the thought she owned nothing of any real value. No precious family heirlooms ; her sister had gotten those years ago and no money except for the 20 dollars she had left in her purse. What if the burglar wanted her? Her eyes darted to umbrella she kept by the door.

With the large umbrella gripped tightly and careful not to make any noise she tip toed to the source of the crash. Light flooded from underneath the bathroom door. She took a moment to collect herself, she would the police as soon she bludgeoned this bastard with her umbrella.

 

Throwing the bathroom door open startling the perpetrator, she swung the umbrella wildly about until it made contact. She hit him repeatedly over the head, she made an attempt to attack his legs in case he decided to charge at her. She relished in the cries of pain she heard, and it only egged her on more to hit the perp harder.

"Please!" _Thwack!_

" No!" _Thwack!_

" Stop!" _Thwack!_

"I don't want to hurt you!" _thwack!_

 

"Don't make me do this!"

 

The umbrella was pulled her grasp, the perp tossed it over his shoulder and in one quick movement, Eden arms were twist behind her back and her face was pressed against the bathroom wall. As he spoke, his breath was hot against her ear.

"I told I would be seeing you again"


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own anything marvel related, however, I do own my OC**

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**Chapter** **three**

James rubbed at the stubble on his chin. It became a habit when he was in deep thought. He was having a dream only moments before although he couldn't remember the beginning of his dream, he could distinctly recall the end and he knew that it wasn't just any normal dream. It was a memory. He closed his eyes. It had to be real. It seemed so real. He thought about the Blonde he had wrapped around his arms If he tried hard enough he bet he could remember the smell of her perfume. He thought about the extravagant car show, and a man named Howard promising to make a car float. Lastly, He thought about the scrawny man that kept calling him Bucky. The man on the bridge had called him that.

"Steve," He said aloud as if he was testing it out.

James immediately stopped trying to dig up memories; it was beginning to give him a massive headache. He seemed to get massive headaches often now, they usually occurred whenever he tried to recall memories. Sometimes they came back to him in a dream, other times he would be scavenging for food near a bakery that often threw out their burnt bread and a memory would hit him.

Speaking of scavenging for food, he felt a lump in his pocket. Slipping his hand into his tattered coat, he wrapped his fingers around a small stale piece of bread. He had lucked out this time; the baker dropped a full loaf into the fire and tossed it out with the trash. James scrapped the burnt parts off with his knife, and he had managed to make it last four days, He slipped the last piece of bread in his mouth, chewing it slowly.

He shifted uncomfortably on the cardboard box, careful to mind his injured arm.

And Captain Rog- No  _Steve,_ He forced himself to say. Steve wouldn't stop following him. He had bounced from homeless shelter to homeless shelter, avoiding him. He always two steps ahead of him. Never staying in any shelter more than a night, he kept his head high but brim on his hat low and when finally he burned through all the homeless shelters in DC, he took to sleeping under bridges and in alleyways.

The sun was setting, and pain in his stomach was enough to make him double over. He was no stranger pain, but he was a stranger to starvation. It was a culture shock to him because for once he was completely on his own. Before the Helicarriers, HYDRA kept him under ice when he wasn't fulfilling a mission, and when he was on a mission, He was always under their watchful eye. He depended on them so much, and it angered him. They provided five meals a day, sleeping quarters and tended to even the smallest of injuries; they did everything for their precious Winter Soldier, But he had ultimately jeopardized their relationship the moment he dragged Steve to shore instead of letting him sink to the bottom of the ocean. Everyone thought HYDRA had fallen, and he couldn't fathom how wrong they were. If anything, HYDRA was stronger than ever.

His stomach lurched; He needed food. He needed medical attention, but he couldn't simply walk into a hospital without raising suspicion and alerting HYDRA. He sets his sights on an apartment complex and He thought of her. He used be to a master assassin; he could get in and get out with no problem. He knew for a fact Steve no longer stayed at the SHIELD had provided apartments and all previous "SHIELD" agents had abandoned their post once SHIELD fell.

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Eden finished tying the last knot around his ankle. She stood back, approving of her handy work. An assortment of bungee cords, duct tape, cable cords, and zip ties. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. She was sure had gotten blood on her carpet but she didn't care because she single-handedly defeated her attacker. Louie purred from the corner, _as if to say I helped too._

**fifteen minutes earlier**

"I told you I would be seeing you soon"

Her breath hitched in her throat; it was him. She could feel her knees threatening to give out. He was here to finish the job. A strangled cry threatened to come out, tears immediately flooding her eyes. She thought of the last conversation she had with her mother, she had snapped at her and storm off, she thought of her younger sister who wanted nothing to with her, her father who she rarely saw. She would be leaving on bad terms with her family; she wouldn't be surprised if no one came to her funeral except Louie, her cat.

oh Louie, who was going to feed Louie and rub his round belly whenever he ate too much.

"D-don't kill me" voice cracking,as she pleaded, "Please" The last part came out in barely a whisper.

The man loosened his grip before eventually letting go, and Eden let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Their eyes locked for a brief moment and then her eyes trailed to the metal contraption on his arm. In the few fleeting seconds that follow Eden charged at him, throwing her full weight at him, losing his balance he fell in the bathtub bringing the shower curtain down with him. Taking advantage of his disoriented state, she ran into her living room. She needed her purse, her car keys and cell phone were in there. Louie sat perch on his castle, obviously oblivious to the entire situation. Eden made a mad dash for the kitchen; her purse had to be in there. The sound of the man's heavy approaching footsteps, he held a smile at bay as his zeroed in on her.

"Stay back!" She spat.

"I won't hurt you"  _Unless you make me_ James mentally added. He raised his hands above his head. "I'm unarmed" Eden eyed his left arm, " but I'm still highly dangerous but I swear I won't lay a finger on you" He quickly added, following her line of sight.

For a split second, Eden considered dropping the pot she taken up as a weapon. _No, don't be stupid_ she thought. Louie arose from his castle and began to circle the stranger, he hissed and attempted to claw at him. _Good boy_

"Minding calling this vermin off."

Louie leaped at his remark, unleashing a fury of angry meows and hisses.  _Nobody calls Louie a Vermin gets away with it._  Eden grinned before raising the pot above her head, and swung with all of her might. Upon impact there was a sickening crush, and she watched as his eyes rolled to back of his head, and he collapsed to the ground with a great thud.

**Present**

He looked like he hadn't eaten in days; his cheeks were gaunt and hollow, it skin was almost as white as a ghost, he smelled repulsive, and he hadn't shaved in some time. Eden's eyes scathed over his body; she noticed that his normal arm had a deformity. It was bruised, swollen and bent at a weird angle. It looked painful. No, she thought, now was not the time to feel sympathy for him. No, she would never feel sympathy for him. It was Karma. From the chair, he groaned as his eyes fluttered open.

He stared around with confusion etched on his face. He eyed her handiwork, and Eden swore she the corners of his mouth upturn. He found her in the corner, with Louie cradled in her right arm and a small pot in the other, he relaxed against the chair. Eden felt her blood boil at this.

"What are you doing in my apartment" She demanded. "Come to finish me off?"

" Hungry" He mumbled. "And hurt"

" Hungry, Hurt and still extremely dangerous" Eden gestured to the metal arm.

Eden folded her arms over her chest, keeping a smile at bay.

" and boy have you picked the wrong apartment to rob" She barely had enough food for herself and the extent of her medical knowledge ranged from applying bandages to putting a stop to a nose bleed so she was practically useless in that department.

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**I rarely do time jumps, so don't worry you wont be seeing anymore of those for a while**

**Thank you for all the kudos !**

**Author's Note:**

> Try not to cringe too hard at this horrible first chapter. I will probably do some editing to this eventally. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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